Stone Temple Pilots, La Zona Rosa @ SXSW 2010

I was asked by Kerrang, a sister publication of Mojo Magazine in the UK to do some metal photos during SXSW this year. I agreed and saw some crazy stuff, but i can’t out everything (maybe later).
They asked me to shoot Stone Temple Pilots for a double spread live review and thought, yeah, sure. I was never into that kind of music, I ran a Brit Pop club in Hollywood when they were on MTV I remember.
I was hanging with my friends watching lots of random stuff, having fun, shooting pics, etc. When it was time to walk all the way over to La Zona Rosa. I headed over there, met a kid on the way who was SO psyched he was gonna see STP! I started getting kinda psyched too. I got to the front and they told me I wasn’t on the bands list to shoot the show. I almost said, “Okay, fuck it, i’m going back to hang out with the Mojo camp”. But something inside me said, “No piper, push it, get in there and get the shots and shoot it”. So i pushed and pulled and twirled around people until i was in the front row waiting to shoot the show after signing a contract and whatnot (which probably said something about not posting the photos on a blog?)…Anyways, the show was Fucking AWESOME! I couldn’t believe how much energy and power that band gave off the stage. It was so invigorating and as the photos were coming up on my little lcd monitor I was shaking with excitement and it reminded me why I DO WHAT I DO!! It’s SO FUN!

I went back to find my friends just in time to see Midlake! Now there’s a band I LOVE and listen to all the time…Only to be honest, after the fire of STP, it didn’t really hold my attention cuz i was so pumped and spazzie, but they were lovely of course.

Here are the Photos I took of a band that Re-restored my faith in shooting rock bands…;)